Lando Norris Wins a Hot-Blooded Hungary Showdown While McLaren Plays 4D Chess

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY – AUGUST 3: Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren raises a fist in celebration on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring on August 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Kym Illman/Getty Images)

If you ever doubted Formula 1 could still deliver drama without a safety car, without rain, and without someone physically throwing a wing mirror at a rival’s head — Hungary just politely asked you to sit down and shut up.

Lando Norris, Britain’s most polite assassin behind the wheel, took the win on Sunday with a tactical masterpiece that would’ve made Patton proud and had Toto Wolff flipping tables. And yes, he had to fight for it — not with a Red Bull or a Ferrari, but with his own teammate. Welcome to the new McLaren era, where the cars are orange and the strategy meetings are apparently done with a deck of Uno cards and a crystal ball.

“I’m dead, I’m dead,” Norris gasped after crossing the line — and honestly, after watching him try to nurse a one-stop strategy while Oscar Piastri hunted him like a debt collector needing a paycheck, we needed a nap, too.

Piastri, for his part, pushed so hard in those final laps that his car was practically sideways in the straights. “I pushed as hard as I could,” he said afterward. “It was a gamble either way.” It was the kind of post-race interview where you could almost hear the gears in his helmet turning, already thinking about how to do it differently next time. He was less than seven-tenths of a second away from the win. In Formula 1 that’s basically a sneeze.

And what about Charles Leclerc? The polesitter? The man who looked like he might finally rewrite Ferrari’s increasingly Shakespearean tragedy script? Well, somewhere around Lap 40 his car decided to turn into a rolling existential crisis. Something in the chassis went sideways — and not in the fun, rally-car way.

“Extremely frustrating,” said Leclerc, who had to settle for fourth after also picking up a five-second penalty for driving like a squirrel that’s been injected with adrenaline. “When we have one opportunity in a year to win a race, we need to take it, and today we didn’t.” Translation: “This car is cursed and I’m going to scream into a pillow for three weeks.”

George Russell, meanwhile, swooped in like a caffeinated accountant to steal third place in the final act — a brilliant, opportunistic drive that was more about consistency than fireworks. Behind him, Fernando Alonso reminded us all that Aston Martin still exists with a strong fifth, and Lance Stroll delivered a seventh place so quietly competent it was almost unsettling.

Rookie sensation Gabriel Bortoleto sandwiched himself between the two Astons in sixth, proving once again that nobody told him he’s not supposed to be this good this fast. Eighth went to Liam Lawson, ninth to Max Verstappen — yes, that Max Verstappen, who spent most of the afternoon grumbling on the radio and was under investigation post-race for an incident involving Hamilton that ended with no further action. That probably left Christian Horner is clenching a stress ball into powder somewhere.

Rounding out the points was Mercedes junior Kimi Antonelli in tenth, who showed serious grit and timing. Isack Hadjar just missed out in 11th, while Hamilton — in what felt like the motorsport equivalent of watching Michael Jordan play beer league softball — slumped to 12th. The W15 was slow, awkward, and twitchier than a heroin addict in a traffic jam.

Behind them, the midfield dissolved into a predictable parade: Hülkenberg’s Kick Sauber in 13th, Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon 14th and 15th, Ocon doing lone-Haas duty in 16th, and Yuki Tsunoda in 17th, possibly having mistaken the race for a sightseeing tour.

And Alpine? Alpine was a walking press release. Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly closed out the order in 18th and 19th, the latter picking up a 10-second penalty after bumping into Sainz like it was a shopping cart in a crowded parking lot.

Ollie Bearman didn’t even get that far — damage to his Haas ended his race early, the racing equivalent of a coffee machine dying on a Monday morning.

And with that, the first half of the season wraps up. Piastri leads the championship by just nine points, Norris is charging like a man possessed, and Ferrari — well, Ferrari remains Ferrari, for better or worse. The summer break beckons, and with it, a lot of bruised egos, recalibrated spreadsheets, and maybe, just maybe, a glimmer of hope that this title fight isn’t going to be a one-horse race after all.

FORMULA 1 HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX 2025 – RACE RESULT

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Greg Engle

Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community.

Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.

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